How to get there Literary Walks in

How to get there
Chawton is 1 mile Southwest of Alton, signposted off the
roundabout at the junction of the A31 Winchester road with the
A32 Fareham Road.
Transport
Public car park available in Chawton village
Rail: Alton Station
Bus: Service from Alton Station to Alton Butts, then 12 minute
walk down Winchester Road to Chawton village.
Literary Walks
in
East Hampshire
Places to visit
Jane Austen’s House and Bookshop
Chawton Church
Refreshment
The Grey Friar public house
Cassandra’s Cup restaurant
The Rose and Crown, Upper Farringdon, passed on the route
The Royal Oak, Lower Farringdon, a short detour from the route
Further Information
Alton Tourist Information Centre: 01420 88448
St. Swithun’s Way and other walks www.hants.gov.uk/walking.
Credits
This leaflet was prepared by Anne Mallinson of the Selborne
Circle or Rural Writers for East Hampshire District Council.
Maps
Ordnance Survey Explorer 133 and 132
ALTON
TO LONDON
Jane Austen 1775-1817
1
A3
A32
TO FAREHAM
6
00
B3
TO WINCHESTER
CHAWTON
TO
PETERSFIELD
A Walk from Chawton
to Farringdon
“…and the plan is that we should all walk with
her to drink tea at Faringdon”
Letter to Cassandra, 29th May 1811
Points of literary interest
a Jane Austen spent the last eight years of her life in
Chawton, from 1809 until 1817. The 17th century
house, now known as Jane Austen’s House, is open to
the public. Here, where she lived with her mother and
sister, Cassandra, and their friend Martha Lloyd, Jane
wrote or revised her six great novels.
b This valley contains land springs which provide one
of the sources of the river Wey. Jane Austen wrote of
it as “a fine running stream” in January 1817, “…it is
nothing but what beautifies us and does to talk of”.
Sometimes there is no water to be seen, for the
Lavant stream is rather elusive.
c Edward, Jane Austen’s third brother, took the name of
Knight on inheriting the estate at Chawton. This
included the ‘Great House’, as it was known. Jane
often visited the house, particularly when Edward and
his family were in residence.
d Gilbert White, the 18th Century parson naturalist,
lived at The Wakes in Selborne (see Selborne Literary
Walk leaflet). Jane Austen refers to a special occasion
of ‘Gaities’ on Selborne Common in which her own
friends and Gilbert’s nephew took part.
e White was curate of Farringdon from 1761 to 1784,
but it is the Revd. John Benn, who held the living of
All Saints from 1797 to 1857, who claims our interest
here, for his family were particular friends of the
Austens and there was much visiting between the two
villages. “Harriet Benn” wrote Jane Austen, “sleeps at
the Great House to-night and spends to-morrow with
us; and the plan is that we should all walk with her to
drink tea at Faringdon”.
f
Wood Barn, a small isolated farm, has disappeared
but in Jane Austen’s time the farm provided poultry
for the table, as Jane record in a letter to her sister
Cassandra, who was visiting their brother at
Godmersham in Kent … “We shall have pease soon I mean to have them with a couple of Ducks from
Wood Barn…” And they did on the 7th June that
year, with the rector of Farringdon’s sister, Miss
Benn, who lived in Chawton, and Maria Middleton
from the ‘Great House’.
g As you approach Jane Austen’s House you pass
thatched cottages on your left. Here by the roadside
too was once a considerable pond, which in “sad
weather” induced Jane to write rather dismally in
March 1816… “Our Pond is brimfull and our roads
are dirty and our walls are damp, and we sit wishing
every bad day may be the last”. However, the days
themselves were not dull. She ends the letter…“We
have had a great deal of fun lately with Postchaises
stopping at the door; three times within a few days,
we had a couple of agreeable Visitors turn in
unexpectedly.”
“Our Chawton home - how much we find
Already in it, to our mind,
And how convinced that when complete
It will all other Houses beat,
That ever have been made or mended,
With rooms concise or rooms distended.”
J. A. Austen, July 26 1809.
Acknowledgements:
Jane Austen's Letters
edited Deidre Le Faye (OUP)
Route
The route is about 41⁄2 miles (23⁄4 hours)
1 The walk starts from the centre of Chawton on the
outskirts of Alton; once on the main highway to
Winchester Jane Austen’s village is now by passed
and lies to the south of the A31.
Jane Austen’s house (see a) is situated in the village
and there is a public car park opposite. The Grey
Friar Inn is nearby.
From the car park turn left and follow the old road,
now a no through road, towards Chawton Church
which lies along the valley on your left (see b). On
the higher ground behind the Church of St Nicholas
the Elizabethan Chawton House can be seen (see c).
In the churchyard the graves of Jane Austen’s mother
and sister, Cassandra, can be found round the back of
the church. The building is Victorian for the church
was rebuilt in 1871 after a disastrous fire.
Continue along the old road to its end and turn left.
cross a stile and follow a grassy path parallel to the
busy road - a far cry from the days when this was the
Gosport turnpike road in Jane Austen’s time!
2 Soon, a stile on your left takes you away from the
road, as you cut diagonally across a field and through
Noar Copse, leading to higher ground beyond. Keep
straight on to Berryhill Plantation.
Here, at the highest point, you can look away, left,
over the countryside - and a line of pylons - to Gilbert
White’s village of Selborne, which Jane Austen knew
(see d).
Continue along the track bordered by tall
Wellingtonia trees which give way to yew (trees) as
you descend into Upper Farringdon. Turn left as you
reach houses and the playground. Go through the
farm yard with Manor Farm House on your left. Turn
right to the church of All Saints (see e). Enter the
churchyard via the lychgate.
3 From the church porch walk across the churchyard
into the lane. Turn left and after a short distance turn
right, you will soon reach the Rose and Crown Inn.
Turn right and continue straight on between attractive
cottages on either side, turn right into Church Road
and take the footpath by the telephone box at the
entrance to Parsonage Close. On passing the
playground again turn left along track to the A32.
Cross this road with care and follow the road opposite
for a short distance. A footpath leads off to the right
just before the bridge. Take this path down onto the
disused Meon Valley railway line which ran between
Alton and Fareham. This part of the route follows the
St. Swithun’s Way.
4 Follow the track as far as it goes. Away on your left
the wooded countryside rises to where Wood Barn
once stood, (see f).
5 At the end of the old railway track follow field edge
towards a clump of trees. Walk through here to a stile
at the far end. Climb stile and follow hedgerow, right,
back to the A32.
6 Cross the road with care, mount the steps and take the
stile into the field opposite. Keep straight on with the
belt of trees on your right. Continue through kissing
gate and into Ferney Close. On reaching the old road
again turn left and retrace your steps to the village,
(see g).
Map
1/4
N
1/2
Jane Austen’s House
CHAWTON
A32
Site of
Wood Barn
Railway
Chawton House
Disused
0
miles
Lavant
Stream
A31
NoarCopse
Berryhill
Plantation
UPPER
FARRINGDON
LOWER
FARRINGDON